My alma mater Fuller Theological Seminary invited me to participate in some research on ritual. They offered me good money -- not that I want it. I completed a survey last night, choosing a ritual of sub-Saharan Churches. But I was conflicted as to whether I should take part at all -- for two reasons I think. The survey had to do with the Cognitive Science of Religion (CSR). It is not the materialistic presuppositions which bother me, but the method, which would seem to choose how to interpret phenomena before one processes them. And the reductionism involved, which would seem to treat real people as mere phenomena. While Westerners may no longer gawk at Saartjie Baartman, I am not too sure they have come very far.
No comments:
Post a Comment